WI Meeting Report
June 2018
As usual the meeting opened with strong rendition of Jerusalem then we settled to the business of the evening. Gill dealt with the routine business and Carol gave the general report . Caroline and Loreli were thanked for the floral offerings and refreshments to come , birthday posies were presented then Gwyneth was invited to give a report on here trip to Cardiff where the resolutions were to be debated and discussed. Our own branch meeting had previously discussed and rejected the resolution which concerned mental health needs as it was felt that the matter already had a very high profile but the conference voted to support it and the resolution was carried. We all know folks with problems and have probably needed some support ourselves at times so let’s hope and work to improve the lot of others who perhaps don’t have a good bunch of W.I. friends to help them through.
Next Jane Merritt bravely took the floor to explain the vagaries of the new heating system which seems to be a little troublesome and having teething problems. Hopefully there will be no more chilly meetings but for those who muttered I must inform you that the colour of the walls will remain ,hey ho can’t win them all but we appreciate the explanations, thank you Jane. As reported previously there is concern that older people and others in our local area are lacking in the activity and exercise areas and that loneliness and a sense of isolation are apparent and a problem. To this end SCC will be providing a mentor for Stradbroke and Fressingfield to come 1 day a week to help support set up and encourage solutions to some of these problems .This will be for the period of 1 year and will be launched on June 28th. No further details yet but it is hoped that the surgeries and other local institutions will be involved with referrals to this project . Thank you to Annie for the update . The ladies then agreed to support the local sports day July 14th and will provide refreshments.
Our speaker for the evening was Steve Pomeroy who to the musical strains and narrative which is the opening to the film War of the Worlds came to talk to us about bamboo. Steve a self proclaimed bamboo nutter, and I quote, was overflowing with enthusiasm for bamboo in all its colours and forms and presented us with a quick quiz on our knowledge of bamboo thus providing us, according to how many points we scored, with our own certified, and I choose that word carefully, level of bamboo nuttery, umm. The various colours through black, variegated, bright yellow and green through to the pale bamboo we all know was surprising and offered great interest of colour in the garden. Many other uses were described including fabrics for clothes, building materials ,cooking utensils and crockery , not to mention weapons and useful in the garden and somehow not surprisingly it is used in some medicines. We enjoyed seeing the samples of bamboo and the slide show of so many varieties of bamboo including the hooligan Robusta variety which spreads rapidly through the garden and is used with great caution as rather vicious looking spears push rapidly up through the grass and look positively dangerous. It was a jolly evening and we thanked Steve for sharing his nuttiness with us.After refreshments Dorothy reminded us of the Blossom Appeal at Ipswich Hospital raising money to provide an all in one place breast cancer care unit and we agreed to help to support this project and help to raise money for this, watch this space.
The next meeting will be on July 12th when Sheila Harrison will give a talk titled Village People. Come and join us 7.30 pm at the community centre you will be very welcome . Pru
